Have you ever experienced or been affected by mental illness? If you are struggling or you know someone who is, you may find that it’s fairly overwhelming to see all of the treatment options in front of you. Before you can go for any treatment, you first need to know the things that are affecting your mental health. This can be just as stressful to figure out as anything else.
You cannot treat mental health issues with lifestyle changes alone. In fact, you should look at the right treatment options for your current mental health, and go from there. Your physical health can be a big factor in how good or bad your mental health is. For example, you can learn more about how your hearing affects your mental health and find that you are feeling isolated because you are struggling to hear. It’s important that you know what the issues are so you can improve things. Though changes to your lifestyle alone won’t work, you can still make lifestyle changes and bind them together with professional treatment. Below, we’ve put together a list of nine things that can affect your mental health.
Lack of Exercise
You need to move to feel healthy, and if you stop moving properly, you will start to feel it and more than just in your body. Your mental health can suffer when you don’t get moving enough. Exercise brings you social options, the chance to burn a little adrenaline and the chance to focus on your weight. Exercise has been proven to be as effective as medication, and it can help you to reduce pain, too. There’s no magical amount of exercise you should be doing, but you should do enough to make your heart rate rise a little.
Smoking
Smoking is a common habit for those with mental health issues. Therapists would recommend smoking as a way to alleviate stress, but of course, we know that smoking affects your lungs and your blood vessels. Quitting smoking is a challenge, but the chance to focus on your health will improve your mental health. Quitting smoking will benefit your mental health in just a few short weeks. You’re not taking in those toxins anymore, and your moods will improve as you are not relying on the cigarettes to see you through.
Bad Diet
Food is not (by definition) medicine, and there are a range of foods that you might eat that make you feel awful. Unhealthy choices in excess can make you feel sluggish and fatigued. With the right minerals and vitamins in your food, you can boost your mood and your brain power (and use the good food as medicine!).
Poor Physical Health
Mind and body work together in sync. When your physical health is poor, your mental health suffers as a result. Some physical health conditions can affect your brain and this can lead to depression.
Loss of Hearing
Believe it or not, your hearing can affect your mental health. A lack of hearing can isolate you and affect you socially, and this is not what you want to worry about. Speaking to an audiologist can help you to assess your hearing health and you can feel a marked improvement in your mental health, too.
Lack Of Socializing
As with hearing issues, you will find your mental health suffers when you have no social time. Friendship can make a huge difference to your life, and the way in which you perceive the world around you is better when you have good friends surrounding you. If you have a busy social life, even just hobbies to get involved in around other people, your mental health will improve.
Abusive Relationships
Are you being gaslighted? Manipulated? Ignored? All of this behavior can affect your mental health, and you can see many studies that prove that healthy relationships help us to think better and be better. Toxic relationships can be devastating to your mental health.
Meditating
A positive one! Your mental health can be positively impacted when you meditate and have calmness in your life. Make sure that you are indulging in deep breathing regularly.
Great Sleep
Another positive one! A good night of sleep can make a big difference to your mental health. Sticking to a good sleeping routine can make all the difference to you, and it will mean you feel physically and mentally healthier!
Thank you for reading!